Billions in fines uncollected

the next time you hear about a large corporation getting fined because they used a shortcut to save money AND cost lives and you think justice has been served... think again

Billions in fines uncollected

By MARTHA MENDOZA and CHRISTOPHER SULLIVAN

The Associated Press

When a gasoline spill and explosion killed three young people in Washington state, officials announced a record penalty against a gas pipeline company: $3 million to send the message that such tragedies “must never happen again.â€
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When nuclear labs around the country were found exposing workers to radiation and breaking other safety rules, assessments totaling $2.5 million were quickly ordered.

When coal firms’ violations were blamed for deaths, injuries and risks to miners from Alabama to West Virginia, the companies were slapped with more than $1.3 million in penalties.

What happened next with these no-nonsense enforcement measures? Not much. The pipeline tab eventually was reduced by 92 percent, the labs’ assessments were waived as soon as they were issued, and the mine penalties largely went unpaid.

The amount of unpaid federal fines has risen sharply in the past decade. Individuals and corporations regularly avoid large penalties for wrongdoing — sometimes through negotiations, sometimes because companies go bankrupt, sometimes due to officials’ failure to keep close track of who owes what under a decentralized collection system.

These are conclusions of an Associated Press examination of federal financial penalty enforcement across the nation, which also found the government is currently owed more than $35 billion in fines and other payments from criminals and in civil cases, according to Justice Department figures. This is almost five times the amount uncollected 10 years ago — and enough to cover the annual budget of the Department of Homeland Security.